The Rural Voice, 1987-05, Page 16NEW DIRECTIONS
in CONSERVATION
The techniques of conservation management have
become much more well known to Ontario farmers
over the past several years, and a general awareness
of conservation issues appears to be spreading.
Losses caused by soil problems alone cost Ontario
farmers an estimated $90 million a year, and the fed-
eral and provincial governments are spending $30
million over five years to improve soil and water quality
in southwestern Ontario alone. Farmers themselves,
realizing that Canada is now producing more than it
can sell profitably, have been retiring fragile land that
simply costs too much to work. And more are turning
to crop rotation, conservation tillage, and erosion -
control structures, motivated not only by long-term
economics, but by stewardship concerns. National
Soil Conservation Week was last month, and the
message is clear: "Soil conservation is everybody's
business." Particularly during a time of low returns,
farmers deserve support in their conservation efforts,
and more agencies and organizations are providing
the necessary funds and research required for
technology transfer. The Rural Voice looks at some
of the programs and activities directed toward
conservation issues, and also, in recognition of
National Forestry Week this month, takes a look at
innovations in agro-forestry.
AGRO-FORESTRY GAINS MOMENTUM IN PRACTICE
by Merle Gunby
When Europeans arrived in what
is now Southern Ontario, they
found a rich fertile land, unfor-
tunately, as they thought, covered by
virgin forest. That forest impeded
their desire to establish themselves
quickly as yeomen in this new land,
so with single-minded purpose they set
about ridding themselves of the nuis-
ance by girding, cutting, and buming.
Then the timber companies moved
in, decimating what was left. During
the nineteenth century, millions of
board feet of timber were exported.
The exploits of the lumbering men
of this era are legendary.
As we move through the twentieth
century and the problems of soil ero-
sion, a market surplus of agricultural
products, and an increasing scarcity of
quality Togs to supply the growing de-
mand for timber products, some people
are wondering if timber production in
Southern Ontario might be profitable.
It would certainly provide plenty of
fringe benefits: better wildlife habitat,
less erosion, and a stabilizing effect
on water runoff, to name a few of the
more obvious.
Ontario is a major exporter of tim-
ber products, much of it softwood lum-
ber and paper, produced mainly in the
north. The valuable hardwoods such
For Andrew Dixon, agro-forestry is a gift to the future.
as walnut, cherry, and oak (and even
white pine of the softwood varieties)
flourish mainly in the soil and clima-
tic environment of Southern Ontario.
Wood from these tree varieties is a net
import commodity in Ontario. Logs
of these species are trucked from the
U.S. to as far as North Bay to supply
mills there.
Andrew Dixon, who lives near
Ailsa Craig, has been promoting agro-
forestry — the idea of growing trees as
a crop interplanted with regular farm
crops (see The Rural Voice, May
14 THE RURAL VOICE